Aston International launches NEO brand in Indonesia

11 Oct 2012

Aston International has introduced a new select-service brand with a difference, called NEO, in Indonesia. There are currently 20 hotels under development across the country.

Aston’s vice president of sales and marketing, Norbert Vas, told Business Traveller that the NEO hotels would be about US$5-8 more expensive than the US$35 average rate of other two-star budget brands in Indonesia. He said they would offer superior design and service, along with the in-room facilities of a four star hotel.

The NEO brand will be “hip and new” in feel, he added, and have a design aesthetic echoing elements of cutting-edge fashion labels, intended to appeal to a younger generation of travellers.

Exterior of NEO hotel Medan

Vas said that Aston International’s launch of the new brand and the rapid expansion of its existing Favehotel brand were to capitalise on demand for accommodation from Indonesia’s fast-expanding middle class. For a full report of Indonesia’s economic development see “Asia’s crouching tiger” in the Business Traveller Asia Pacific October issue.

“We are responding to the tremendous growth of Indonesia’s middle class,” he said. “In 2004, 1.6 million Indonesians were considered middle class, in 2012 this number grew to 50 million and by 2015 it will be at 150 million.”

He said Aston International aimed to quickly take advantage of its 15 years of experience in the country to occupy most prime spots with either a Favehotel, NEO, or both, making it difficult for anyone else to enter the market.

Of the 20 new NEO hotels planned, six will be located in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Vas said these would form a ring around the city’s central business district where land is too expensive for budget hotels.

Opening in 2013 will be hotels in the Jakarta districts of Melawai, Cideng Mangga Dua, Tendean, Wahid Hasyim and Antasari.

During the summer of 2013 the group will also open four NEO hotels in Bali, along with others in the port city of Makasar, the northern city of Medan, Samarinda, Solo, and the Borneo seaport Balikpapan.

Another budget hotel brand expanding in Indonesia is Tune Hotels (see story here), which opened a property in Jakarta in July (see story here).